Safety closure



Jam" 29, 1952 M. WINTER ET AL SAFETY CLOSURE Filed May 25, 1946 INVENTOR MICHAEL WATTER JOHN C. LYON ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 29, 1952 SAFETY o osonE Michael Watter, Philadelphia, and John 0. Lyon,

Upper Darby, Pa., assignors. to The Budd Company, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvanla Application May 25, 1946, Serial No. 672,312

This invention relates to closures and has for an object the provision of a safety panel of an improved type which may be released from either side and which will open away from the side on which it is released.

There are many situations where a crowd of such size may collect at a closure, such for example as the sliding vestibule or side door of a railway vehicle, that it becomes impossible to open the closure in the usual way or to move any part of it toward the crowd. The present invention avoids this difficulty by making the panel movable away from the side on which it is released. The invention also includes certain important details of construction which provide for retaining the panel until it is pushed out of its frame even after release and which provide for very securely retaining the closure before the safety strip has been pulled.

The invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings of an illustrative embodiment, wherein:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of a rail car vestibule door embodying the invention;

Fig. ,2 is a horizontal section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical partial section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a vertical partial section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 5 is a partial perspective view showing the pull strip being removed.

A closure ID, for example the sliding vestibule door of a railway car II; is provided with a safety release panel I2 of such size and location as to permit passengers to step through its opening in the frame provided by the door when the panel is removed. v

On one perimetral side the panel and its frame are provided with resilient weather-tight emergency release strips l3, Rubber or the like is a suitable material for these strips. Each release strip is disposed between an inwardly extending frame element, projection, or ledge I4 and an outwardly extending panel element or projection IS. The panel projection is disposed inwardly of the frame projection so as to freely pass when the safety release strip I3 on that side of the panel is removed.

At one end of the release strip a hand pull piece 16 is provided, this preferably being carried in a glass covered recess IT to discourage use except in an emergency.

These safety strips may be used on either or both facial sides of the panel. They are shown 1 Claim. ((31.20-36) 2 here on both sides. They may be used on one or more perimetral sides or edges but are shown on only the front edge, this being sufiicient to serve the intended purpose and providing quicker and easier release than if used on more than one side, the other three sides being provided with resilient Weather-proof retaining elements or strips of a different nature from the pull strips.

As here shown the frame at the top and bottom sides is provided with centrally thin and edge-enlarged retaining strips 20 of a material such as rubber which firmly retain and seal the panel but yield when it is pushed sufficiently to permit it to be readily removed.

At the perimetral side of the panel opposite the pull strip, the rear side here, an even more permanent type joint may be provided. Here the panel I2 is provided with a central strip or tongue 2| which fits in a groove 22 of the frame, resilient weather-seal strips 23 of a suitable material, such as rubber, being provided on each side of the tongue.

From the above description it will be seen that it is possible to remove the safety panel by pulling the release strip on one facial side and pushing on the front edge of the panel, whereupon it will fall out on the side away from that on which the release strip was pulled.

It will be seen from Figs. 3 and 4 that the rubber strip 20 at the top and bottom interposes frictional resistance to the transverse separation of the parts whereby insofar as these two perimetral sides are concerned, separation may be effected by movement of one relative to the other in a direction transverse to the facial plane of the parts. From Fig. 2 it will be seen that at the rear perimentral edge the projection 2| of one part extends into the groove formed between projections on the other part and that the retaining and sealing strips 23 normally hold the parts together in shear but permit separation by a swinging movement of one part relative to the other. At the front edge, again as shown in Fig. 2, the outer part or frame is provided with an intermediate projection H with a rabbeted recess on each side thereof and that the inner part or panel is provided with an intermediate projection which is enlarged at its outer end and outer projections [5 which, together with the intermediate projection, form on each side a groove, the sealing strips i3 being inserted in the facing groove of one part and the rabbeted recesses of the other part so that it is very firmly retained except when pulled out at an angle to both the facial plane and the plane perpendicular to this plane. The sealing and retaining strips [3 on this perimetral side when in position also resist separation between panel and frame in shear.

While one embodiment has been specifically described it will be understood that the invention may have various embodiments within the limits of the prior art and the scope of the subjoined claim. 9

What is claimed is:

A safety release closure retaining and sealing construction comprising in combination, a

frame, a closure panel disposed within the frame and alone standing clear thereof, except on one perimetral side, in transverse planes passing between the perimetral sides of the closure panel and frame to permit the panel alone to be iii moved out of the frame toward either facial side by movement transversely of the plane of the frame; resilient elastic retaining and sealing strips between the panel and frame on all 'sides, the sealing strips on two opposite perimetral sides frictionally retaining the panel in the frame and permitting the panel to be moved 4 transversely out of the frame against frictional resistance, the sealing strips on two other opposite perimetral sides being disposed between projections on the panel and frame to interposeshearing resistance to the removal of the panel transversely of the frame, the strips on the opposite facial sides of one of the last said two perimetral sides being removable by pulling out from an end, whereby when a pull strip is removed from one facial side the panel may be pushed out of the frame.

' MICHAEL WATTER.

JOHN C. LYON.

- LItEFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of: this patent:

3 UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Verhagen Dec.' 17, 1946 

